Pound-Pound
Review by James Ballinger
I’ll be the first to admit that (on a personal note) overly-technical, guitar-focused metal has never been my thing. Sure, I’ve always had an appreciation for it on a technical level, and I completely understand its appeal. It’s just never been something that I’ve felt the need to sit around and listen to. But after seeing Pound (Lb!) around town live for years now, I’ve been increasingly more interested to hear what a full-length album by the duo would sound like.
If you’re unfamiliar, Pound is one guitarist, Ryan Schutte, and one drummer David Stickney. Formed in Seattle in 2008 the two-piece have no vocalist, just pure instrumental fury coming from Ryan’s how-many-the-fuck-ever string guitar (it’s actually nine strings), and David swiveling back and forth on his drum throne between two kits that have Cronenberged into one. It’s quite the spectacle, it’s loud as fuck, and I highly recommend it. How that energy translates on record could go either way, but I’m happy to report that on the band’s debut it works here tremendously well.
Instead of giving each track a traditional title, Pound has opted to name each of the eight tracks after one of its rhythmic patterns allowing the music to speak for itself (Example: -..-..-.x-..-..-..-..-..x..-..-..-..-….). It doesn’t let up, either. As soon as one pattern ends, another starts right up as the band goes in and out of fast guitar driven leads to slow, head bang inducing breakdowns. It’s like watching some douchebag drive a Ferrari on the freeway during rush hour. Musically it’s fine tuned, pitch perfect, and extremely tight. Each note is clearly discernible amongst the dozens Ryan plays each measure as David switches time signatures and drum kits with ease.
The album is available to steam and purchase now digitally on their Bandcamp.
https://pound.bandcamp.com/releases
Watch the video for “x.—.x.—.x.—.x.—” from Pound’s self-titled debut, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASZKcm8lR3I
